Work May Hamper Driving On S.r. 434 Southern Bell To Install Pipes For Fiber Cables Along 6-mile Stretch

January 3, 1986|By Kirsten Gallagher of The Sentinel Staff

WINTER SPRINGS — Drivers traveling State Road 434 this month may face delays because of construction.

Southern Bell is installing pipes for cables along a 6-mile stretch from Oviedo to S.R. 434 and State Road 419. One lane may be closed because the road is narrow and the state Department of Transportation does not have much right of way to work with, said Stan Mann, engineer at the DOT.

Southern Bell's work is part of a larger project linking its Orlando office with Oviedo, Sanford, communities north of DeLand and those east to Cocoa, said Bill Amidon, operations engineer for Southern Bell in Seminole and Orange counties.

During the next year, Amidon said, the company will work along roads in Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Brevard counties.

In some areas the cable will be pulled through existing pipes or buried, leaving the roadside intact. Other places, such as along the 6-mile stretch, need to be torn up for the pipes.

United Telephone this month will begin placing similar cables along U.S Highway 17-92 and Lake Avenue north to Maitland, said Jack Frye, the company's engineering manager for the Winter Park area.

The new fiber cables can transmit large quantities of communication data that especially benefits larger businesses relying on computers.